Tag: Gothic Literature

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A Love Song to Lucy Undying by Kiersten White

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy Westerna is killed by Dracula while the heroes figure out how to save Mina, the heroine of the book. Like most “final girls” in horror stories Mina is sensible, not like other girls, and doesn’t even seem to notice that she’s pretty. Lucy on the other hand is aware of her beauty, has many suitors, and is impulsive and emotional and is therefore deemed by the narrative less worthy of being saved. She’s treated as a disposable character to gain sympathy from the audience and heighten the stakes as the heroes fight to save Mina.

 In short, Lucy Westerna deserved better and in the beautifully told Gothic tale Lucy Undying, Kiersten White gives her just that. 

Lucy Undying is told, like Bran Stoker’s Dracula, in an epistolary format. We follow Lucy through a series of letters, diary entries and therapy transcripts in multiple timelines as she changes from a young heiress in the 1800s who never felt safe enough to be her true self, suffocated by expectations, to a world weary jaded vampire in present day who has been through two world wars and been both an assassin and a spy. 

As a teenager, Lucy is preyed upon by Dracula in the midst of heartbreak she doesn’t even know how to put words to. She is abandoned by everyone who claims to care about her, who see her as too foolish and childish to be consulted or informed in their flimsy attempts to rescue her. Despite having three eligible men who claim to be in love with her, no one actually knows her or understands her. To them she is just an object to enhance their own sense of worth, not an actual living breathing human with her own needs and feelings. This is never more evident than when she comes to them after she has been killed by Dracula.

“And do you know what they did,”  Lucy tells her therapist ”when I, the object of their mutual desire and lust, revealed myself ready at last to embrace them on my own terms? They recoiled in disgust and horror.” Pg 28

Lucy blames herself for her own vulnerability in allowing herself to be killed by Dracula and for how her family treated her before he appeared outside her window. She recalls that she “always twisted myself into unpleasant shapes in order to be accepted.” Pg 95. Once she becomes a vampire she muddles through her undead existence looking for a sense of meaning to her unlife. As she discovers her undead power of turning into moonlight she says 

“I was always good at moonlight though, because moonlight isn’t real either. It’s just a wan reflection of someone else’s light.” Pg 38

Lucy meets other traumatized vampires in her travels who have also been victimized by Dracula, including two of his brides, a Chinese assassin known as “the Queen”, a Byzantium intellect known as “the Doctor” and a Parisian party girl known as “the Lover”. They are each forgotten girls like Lucy, preyed upon by Dracula because society didn’t deem them worthy enough to be protected. They are unique, vibrant women who ultimately cope with their trauma in their own ways and help each other become stronger. 

“We’re mausoleums,” Lucy says ”holding the girls we were with tenderness, and love, and strength. His violence turned us into our own unhallowed ground, our own safe spaces to rest, carried with us wherever we go.” Pg 404

Lucy herself is still trapped in the immeasurable heartbreak that led her into Dracula’s arms. The pain of it lingers even in her unlife at the core of who she believes herself to be. She struggles to make herself whole, to understand who she is through the loss she has suffered.

“Have you ever been moonlight in a sun drenched world?” She asks. “Scattered and blown apart by light so much greater than your own? It took me ages to gather the particles of myself. I’d be so close, nearly there, and the sun would be back in its merciless honesty. I nearly stopped existing then, I think. At least in any form recognizable as myself.” Pg 109

Mysteries and conspiracies begin to unravel in the slow dark crawl of the truly Gothic. Kiersten White writes such beautiful poetic prose that you will be as lost in her intricate weave of words as much as the tightly woven threads of story as they come together to reveal a tapestry of betrayal and control that can only be unwoven by love. Real, deep love that teaches Lucy to love herself and every foolish thing she’d ever done trying to earn love from others. The sapphic love story interwoven into this rich Gothic tale of healing is both sweet and real, equal parts passion and support. Lucy’s new love helps her finally face Dracula and the deep pain of the betrayal she has suffered, but more importantly being loved shows her how to really and truly love herself.

Once she has learned to love herself Lucy reclaims her own narrative. She reframes her trauma and learns to recognize it for what it was. By realizing that Dracula is a true monster who hurt her for no other reason than that he could, she is able to forgive herself and reclaim her power. 

“I see exactly the way he left me vulnerable and unable to fight back. The manipulation that had me questioning whether I had somehow wanted that to happen, whether it was my fault, whether I deserved it. The way he turned my guilt and confusion back on me, making me feel complicit in my own assault.” Pg 403

 By the end of Lucy Undying, Lucy is no longer the forgotten girl deemed less worthy of saving. She takes control of her own story and fights to build a loving community around herself and cultivates her own sense of self worth. She is no longer the disposable girl but cherished and loved and empowered as she always deserved to be. 

“Several things break inside me, but what is a wall, a wall is nothing, what is a body, a body is nothing. I am moonlight, I am death, the sun might bind me but it cannot stop me.” Pg 380

You should read Lucy Undying. It’s really good and I just can’t stop talking about it.

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Gothic Elements in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a beloved fairytale known for its frolicking dwarfs, sweet naive heroine, and wicked queen obsessed with beauty. It’s a child-like story with tones of nostalgia and whimsey that, like the cottage core aesthetic, give us the illusion of a simpler time. Alongside it’s light hearted magic and happily ever after, however, is a Gothic tale of spooky castles, haunted forests, forbidden magic, and death. Even the 1937 Disney version of the old fairytale that most are familiar with feature these dark elements. Fairytales have always contained elements similar to Gothic literature and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an excellent example.

Public Domain image by Warwick Goble

Gothic literature is a genre popularized in the seventeenth century describing a type of novel, short story or poem that features dark atmospheric elements such as a spooky castle or forest, a mysterious past that unravels throughout the course of the story, moody “byronic” heroes, symbolically angelic heroines, supernatural elements, and hints of madness. The genre relies heavily on the setting and weather to set the tone and emotion of the narrative and contains themes of horror and suspense woven into them in a slow, unsettling pace that makes the reader’s skin crawl. They are, in fact, my very favorite kind of book. Describing these kinds of stories as “Gothic“ began with Horace Wadpole when he subtitled his book The Castle of Otranto “A Gothic Story”, but such tales have existed since the days of oral storytelling, including many fairytales.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was originally an oral story told by word of mouth. The most well known written version is the Grimms brothers, added to their collection of folktales and fairytales in 1812. We often think of the Grimms brothers as the darker versions of fairytales, but while their versions are considerably darker than their Disney counterparts, the Grimms brothers themselves heavily censored the stories they collected. Both Disney and the Grimm brothers adapted Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to fit the sensibilities and values of the time and yet the darker Gothic horror elements remain. Something in the very nature of the tale demands an acknowledgement of the darker side of reality.

First there is the setting. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs contains not only a Gothic castle full of mystery and dark forbidden magic, but also a spooky forest that mirrors the feeling of fear and horror Snow White feels as she runs from her home in fear of being murdered. It is a scene that would be at home in any horror film. Similarly the spooky castle mirrors -perhaps more literally — the dreary and twisted heart of the wicked queen who so craves Snow White’s innocence and beauty.

Snow White herself is a textbook example of a Gothic heroine. She is naive and sweet and serves almost more as a symbol of goodness in juxtaposition to the dark realities of the world than a relatable flesh and blood character like Jane Austen’s Catherine Morland in her spoof of a Gothic novel. Still, she is endearing in her commitment to being kind in a world that is often cruel to her. She is trusting when she has every right to be suspicious and that is both what puts her at risk and what ultimately saves her. In the Disney version animals flock to her because of her innate goodness and in both the Disney and Grimms version it is trust and kindness to the dwarves that leads to her being put in a glass coffin so that the prince can find her.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is completely riddled with supernatural elements and while in many Gothic stories such as Jane Eyre the suspected supernatural turns out to have a logical explanation, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the magic is quite real. The wicked queen’s mirror speaks, telling her the truth she doesn’t want to hear. She uses magic to harm Snow White and magic brings Snow White back from the dead. The evil queen’s magic is poisonous and represents temptation in the form of forbidden fruit in the Disney version and not only forbidden fruit but also a comb and sash -vehicles by which a woman tries to be beautiful — in the Grimms version. While the Disney version features a questionably unconsented kiss and the Grimms brothers a decision by the prince to keep a corpse on display at his castle (his servants drop the coffin on the way back to his castle and the piece of apple falls out of her throat, bringing her back to life) in both versions it is the prince who unintentionally saves Snow White’s life.

The prince is not necessarily a moody byronic hero and there are no instances of a mysterious past in Snow White, but the evil queen is questionably mad with her desire for beauty. However, it is the elements of suspense and horror that truly make Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Gothic. In the Grimms version the story opens with Snow White’s real mother pricking her finger and observing her blood drip onto the black ebony snow covered windowsill. She likes the black, red and white color palette and wishes for a daughter with lips as red as blood, skin as white as snow, and hair as black as ebony. This image of blood dripping over the snow sets the tone for the entire story. Soon the daughter’s step mother (or actual mother in older versions of the tale) wants to cut out her heart and is only stopped when she is fooled by the huntsman who gives her the heart of a deer instead. Once she realizes she has been fooled she tries three more times to murder Snow White and eventually succeeds. The dwarfs then put Snow White’s corpse in a glass coffin so they can admire it. These elements are toned down only a little in the Disney version, omitting the first scene with Snow White’s mother and reducing the murder attempts to one instead of three after the evil queen discovers that the huntsman has deceived her. The impending threat of the evil queen creates an undercurrent of suspense and horror throughout the entire story, even while Snow White is dancing with the dwarves or sleeping safely in their cottage.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a complicated story with many themes ranging from an Oedipal struggle between the younger and older generations, the danger of being beautiful and also the demonization of women who try to be, along with the duality of a “good” women vs a “bad” women and what they have in common. The Grimms brothers used the tale to perpetuate their racist agenda of German nationalism while the Disney version promotes the virtues of female domesticity. Beneath these themes however, and perhaps predating them in its original oral form, is a thrilling Gothic tale of horror as Snow White faces and ultimately triumphs over danger and unimaginable horrors.

Darkness in fairytales is important because it acknowledges the darkness of the real world and helps us imagine how to improve it. Snow White is so riddled with dark Gothic elements that even two attempts to sanitize the tale wasn’t enough to stamp them out. The dark undercurrent woven throughout the story is what makes the whimsey and sweetness feel so precious and the whimsey and frolicking is what makes the darkness so horrifying because there is so much to lose. This contrast between the two completely different tones may be part of what has made the story endure for so long as it has been told and retold from generation to generation. The complex tapestry of light and dark mirror the moments of horror mingled with moments of magic and joy that comprise every day life.

I’m hoping the 2025 live action version of Snow White smooths out some of the more problematic and outdated elements of the story. If you love Gothic fairytales consider checking out my own adaptation of Snow White (with Little Red Riding Hood mixed in and make it lesbian) Snow Roses by Taryn Tyler.